The Paris Stock Exchange finished higher for the fourth time in five sessions on Tuesday, driven by the renewed activity in the euro zone in April allowing it to return to 8,100 points.
The flagship CAC 40 index gained 65.42 points, or +0.81%, to finish at 8,105.78 points, its highest level since April 8. Over the last five sessions, it finished four times in the green and once stable (-0.01% Friday).
This is its strongest progression in one session since March 12.
The main event of the day, the publication of the April PMI Flash index which gives a preview of the level of economic activity, pleased investors. In the euro zone, growth in activity accelerated, reaching its highest level in eleven months, exceeding analysts’ expectations.
The overall picture is good, this confirms the feeling of the European Central Bank, which had estimated that the worst in terms of economic activity was undoubtedly over, explains Alexandre Baradez, analyst from IG France.
The same index for the United States was less good than expected but, there too, investors welcomed the news with a smile. Unlike Europe, where key rate cuts from the Central Bank are expected with certainty due to progress on inflation and the weakness of the economy, investors are more cautious about the next decisions of the American Central Bank (Fed).
The fear is that the economy is too resilient, explains Mr. Baradez, because this would encourage the Fed not to lower its interest rates, or very little, which would be bad news for investors.
The publication of the American indicator caused a clear drop in the interest rate of the American State which had repercussions on that of the French State: after having exceeded 3.02% in the middle of the session, the rate 10-year interest rate returned to a rate close to its level the day before, 3%.
Investors will now focus on corporate results, with those of almost half of the CAC 40 companies expected throughout the week. Air Liquide, Orange and Eurofins will notably publish their results on Wednesday, before the stock market opens. Kering announced after closing that it expected a decline in its current operating income of 40 to 45% in the first half.
Renault without acceleration
The car manufacturer Renault published a slight increase in turnover (+1.8%) in the first quarter of 2024 thanks to high interest rates on its financial services, which notably compensated for negative exchange rates.
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Inventories continued to decline, leading to a negative volume effect and below consensus expectations, note Stifel analysts. The title gained 0.40% to 47.66 euros. Since January 1, Renault shares have risen by almost 29%.
Storm on OVH Cloud
The French cloud service provider (cloud computing) OVH Cloud fell 17.60% to 7.70 euros after the publication of its results.
The reduced economic visibility in 2024 is leading us to review our turnover objectives, declared general manager Michel Paulin in particular. The improvement in cash generation forecasts has not counterbalanced the trend.
In the first half of the year to 2024, OVH Cloud suffered a net loss of 17.2 million euros, compared to 26.6 million euros over the same period last year.